Exclusive: Interview With Israeli Vice PM Moshe Yaalon

I recently sat down with Israel’s Vice Prime Minister, Moshe Yaalon, for a wide ranging interview on the latest events in Israel and the greater Middle East.

Some highlights from my chat with MInister Yaalon, who is the second-highest ranking member of the Israeli government:

Yaalon said that the Israeli government believes that “behind the scenes,” Iran is involved in the recent rocket attacks against Israel from Gaza, and that Iran has given the green light to its terrorist proxies like Hamas to intensify attacks against Israel.

On Iran’s ultimate goal: “[Israel is] only the minor Satan. America is the great Satan. What is America? It is the West, led by the United States. Their aim is to wipe Israel off the face of the map on their way to defeating America.”

On the international push, led by the Palestinian Authority, to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state: ” To force such a move on Israel will be a disaster not just for the state of Israel, but for the West as well.”

On how anti-Semitic incitement in the Palestinian Authority’s media and educational systems helped lead to the killing of five members of an Israeli family by Palestinian terrorists earlier this month. “If this young generation is educated to deny any linkage between the Jewish people and the land of Israel, and you don’t have the right to have a Jewish state, this is the outcome…and so they are responsible for this attack as well. They can’t deny responsibility.”

And to see my entire 30 minute interview with Minister Yaalon, check out the April 5th epsiode of the Stakelbeck on Terror show.